1 Corinthians 6:13

Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall bring to nought both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body:

'Meats for the belly' -'Food is for the stomach' (NASV)

This may have been. slogan that some in Corinth were using. Apparently Paul is answering one of their arguments. The argument may have went something like. Since 'eating meats' and 'sex' are both "natural functions or natural possesses of the body", and eating meats sacrificed to idols is. morally neutral practice, then so is having sex with the temple prostitutes.

"Obviously there were those who were defending their right to commit fornication because it was "as natural" as meat eating." [Note:. McGuiggan p. 75]

'but God shall bring to nought both it and them' -i.e. the stomach and food. 'Neither meats nor the digestive system is destined to live beyond the grave..We will have no use for. digestive system in heaven.' (Willis p. 197)

'But the body is not for fornication' -'Paul emphatically denies the parallel between meats and fornication.' (McGuiggan p. 76)

Point to Note:

Many try to make. similar argument today. We hear people saying that 'sex is just as natural as eating or breathing'. Paul didn't buy into such. shallow view.

'but for the Lord' -The Lord didn't create the body for fornication, He created it for Himself! 'The human body has. higher mission than the mere gratification of sensual appetite.' (Robertson p. 121)

Point to Note:

Apparently the Corinthians were also under another misconception that was prevalent in the Greek culture, i.e. that the body would be destroyed and therefore it was inconsequential what one did with his body in this life.

'The Greeks always looked down on the body..the important thing was the soul, the spirit of man; the body was. thing that did not matter.' (Barclay p. 62)

Fee makes. good point when he says, 'The net result is one of the more important theological passages in the NT about the human body. It should forever lay to rest the implicit dualism of so much that has been passed off as Christian, where the body is rejected, subdued, or indulged because it is of no significance..' (p. 251)

A modern form of the "body isn't important argument", is "my personal life doesn't have anything to do with my religion."

Paul immediately points out that the "body" isn't like the stomach=food relationship that will perish. In the end the body will be resurrected.